Light microscopy is a core methodology in life sciences, and rapid advances in technology – accentuated by the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to three inventors of super-resolution light microscopy – are offering new opportunities that must be utilized by the Norwegian research community.
The vision of the Norwegian Advanced Light Microscopy Imaging Network (NALMIN) is to provide Norwegian researchers with the most advanced light microscopy technology to image biologically and biomedically important molecules at high to ultra-high resolution in systems ranging from microorganisms and cell cultures through plants and small animals.
NALMIN’s principal goal is to establish a network at international competence level for advanced light microscopy. The network consists of 5 national nodes located in Oslo (1 node with two branches(NorMIC IBV and NorMIC Radium)), Bergen, Trondheim (2 nodes) and Tromsø, each with specialized competence. All nodes are members of the national NorBioimaging infrastructure organization, and the NorMIC Oslo node is a member of the EuroBioimaging network. Three of the nodes are associated with Norwegian Centres of Excellence (CCB, CIR and CEMIR). Research groups in Norway will have access to both the national centres and the international EuroBioimaging nodes for their specific research, providing cutting-edge imaging techniques to a broad community.
In its second phase, NALMIN-II, the network was awarded NOK 71.5 million from the Research Council of Norway under the national research infrastructure scheme (project no. 322607, 2022–2031, led by Prof. Harald A. Stenmark). This investment has enabled the acquisition of a new generation of state-of-the-art instruments — including live nanoscopy, light-sheet microscopy, and high-content spinning-disk systems — for ultrafast, ultrasensitive imaging of living specimens in 3D. The first microscopes were installed in 2023, with additional systems added in 2024 and 2025, and the infrastructure has already contributed to more than 120 scientific publications.
Building on this foundation, NALMIN is now preparing an application for a third phase, NALMIN-III, which will renew and upgrade the first-generation equipment originally acquired under NALMIN-I — ensuring that Norwegian life scientists continue to have access to frontier imaging technology.
An additional goal for NALMIN is to introduce and develop new imaging techniques and to actively support and educate users within a broader range of life science disciplines through basic courses and advanced training, for example the NorMIC microscope workshop series.
Requirement for citations in scientific publications: All use of NALMIN infrastructure should be acknowledged in any scientific publications that result from it.